Business News Live: Apple to create 6 lakh jobs in India as it further reduces dependency on China

Port and dock workers' unions of major ports have deferred their indefinite strike proposed from Wednesday, official sources said on Tuesday. The decision came after an agreement between representatives of workers' unions and ports management on workers' demands at a marathon meeting in the national capital on Tuesday, they said.
 

State-owned Bank of Baroda on Tuesday said it has raised Rs 5,000 crore by issuing long-term infrastructure bonds. The lender said it is a ten-year bond issued at a coupon of 7.30 per cent, as per an official statement. It can be noted that a slew of Indian lenders, including SBI, have raised resources through the infrastructure bonds route lately.
 

Paddy acreage increased by 4.29 per cent to 39.42 million hectare so far in the ongoing 2024-25 kharif (summer) season, the agriculture ministry said on Tuesday. In the year-ago period, the area under paddy was 37.8 million hectare.

Sowing of paddy, the main kharif crop, begins with the onset of the southwest monsoon in June, and harvesting takes place from October 
 

A delegation of pensioners' body EPS-95 National Agitation Committee on Tuesday met with senior officials of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation to press for their long-standing demand for a minimum monthly pension of Rs 7,500.

The members also demanded full medical coverage for EPS members and their spouses, EPS-95 National Agitation Committee (NAC) said in a statement.
 

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said the GST council next month will discuss rationalisation of tax rates but a final decision on tweaking taxes and slabs will be taken later. She also said that compensation cess on luxury and sin goods are also going to be discussed and can come up in the September 9 meeting or later. 
 

Short seller Hindenburg Research said on Tuesday it had a short position in server maker Super Micro Computer, citing evidence of "accounting manipulation".

The company, whose shares fell about 10 per cent in trading before the bell, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Leading depository CDSL and global lender Citibank NA on Tuesday settled with Sebi cases pertaining to the alleged violation of regulatory norms after paying settlement charges. CDSL and Citibank NA (DDP) paid Rs 1.3 crore and Rs 40.2 lakh, respectively, towards settlement charges, according to separate orders passed by Sebi.
 

Revenue growth of road engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) companies is expected to moderate to 5-7 per cent next fiscal, as lower national highway awarding weighs on their order books, rating agency Crisil said on Tuesday.

That said, the credit profiles of these companies will remain stable, supported by steady operating profitability and strong balance sheet, it added.
 

Over 200 global players are likely to showcase cutting-edge battery and charging infra technologies at the Bharat Battery Show in January 2025. Industry body India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA), in a statement, said it is organising the Bharat Battery Show at the second Bharat Mobility Global Expo 2025.

According to the statement, the Bharat Mobility Global Expo 2025 led by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry is set to be held on January 17-22, 2025, across three major venues -- Bharat Mandapam, Yashobhoomi (IICC) Dwarka, and India Expo Center & Mart, Greater Noida.
 

ReNew on Tuesday announced the signing of a clean power sale contract of 437.6 megawatt (MW) with Microsoft. The contract is expected to generate over one million units of green electricity attributes annually, contributing to Microsoft's aim to become carbon negative by 2030, ReNew said in a statement.

"ReNew today announced the signing of a green attribute sale contract of 437.6 MW with Microsoft," it said.

State-owned Coal India Ltd's contribution to the government's exchequer rose 2.06 per cent to Rs 20,071.96 crore in the April-July period of the ongoing fiscal year.

Coal India Ltd (CIL), which accounts for over 80 per cent of domestic coal output, paid Rs 19,666.04 crore to the government exchequer in the year-ago period, according to provisional figures of the coal ministry.

Ola Founder Bhavish Aggarwal has called out "unique irony" of India having its design imprint on every chip in the world, yet no chip of its own, and said while his announcement on first AI chip for India is a "moonshot", the company is fully confident of delivering on the promise. 

In an interaction with PTI editors at the agency's headquarters here, Aggarwal talked at length on his vision behind the bold and ambitious project, and explained why building a chip from scratch is a "risky endeavour". And why he is convinced that Ola Group and AI venture Krutrim can pull off the "moonshot".
 

Global Capability Centres (GCCs) in India are offering up to 20 per cent higher salaries as compared with the IT services, especially at entry and mid levels, a report said on Tuesday. According to the report by TeamLease Digital, India has over 1,600 GCCs employing over 1.66 million professionals. It is poised to welcome 800 new GCCs in the next 5-6 years, which shows the country's growing prominence as a global tech hub.
 

The recent Rs 12 crore initial public offering of Resourceful Automobile, a Delhi-based company with just two outlets and a workforce of eight, has taken the market by storm with the issue receiving bids worth close to Rs 4,800 crore. Founded in 2018, Resourceful Automobile operates under the brand name Sawhney Automobile, dealing in Yamaha two-wheelers. It specialises in the sales and servicing of motorcycles and scooters.
 

The rupee depreciated by 5 paise to close at 83.92 (provisional) against the American currency on Tuesday, on overnight jump in crude oil prices and a surge in commodity prices. However, positive domestic markets and a soft US dollar cushioned the downside, forex traders said.
 

Discussions for the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between India and Oman are at an advanced stage and both sides hope to conclude the pact early, Indian Ambassador to Oman Amit Narang said on Tuesday.

The pact will give a significant push to bilateral trade and investment ties between the two countries, he said. The pact, officially known as the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), is expected to boost Indian exports to the west Asian country by eliminating duties, especially on petroleum products, textiles, electronics, pharmaceuticals, machinery, and iron and steel.
 

 The domestic stock markets ended flat after erasing early gains on Tuesday with National Stock Exchange’s broader Nifty 50 ending in green for the ninth straight session, according to exchange data.

NSE’s Nifty 50 ended 7.15 points or 0.03 per cent higher at 25,017.75 while Bombay Stock Exchange’s 30-share Sensitive Index (Sensex) also 13.65 points or 0.02 per cent higher at 81,711.76. 

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Apple has announced that the Indian operation of the company will provide up to 6,00,000 jobs by the end of the current financial year, depicting how it has aggressively worked on expanding the operations in the country while trying to cut the over-dependency created due to the Chinese manufacturing.

Zee Entertainment Enterprises along with Sony's local unit and Bangla Entertainment (BEPL) have mutually agreed to withdraw all claims against each other, according to an exchange filing by Zee Media.  As part of the settlement, the firms will withdraw all claims made at the Singapore International Arbitration Centre and at India's national tribunal.

 On Tuesday, the shares of Tata Investment surged 20 per cent to hit its upper circuit at Rs 7406.15 apiece buoyed by strong trading volume and broader market optimism.

As Tuesday’s trading session comes to an end, the shares of the company settled Rs 1,235 higher from its opening price.

Airtel customers will get to access Apple TV+ and Apple Music content through video streaming platform Xstream and Wynk Music app later this year.

Airtel and Apple have signed a deal to this effect, the telecom operator said in a statement on Tuesday.

Tata Group’s IT and design services provider Tata Elxsi has jumped over 12 per cent on Monday after ending over 10 per cent higher on August 27. According to the data from BSE, the stock's trading volume is witnessing a nearly 32 times jump with the total quantity traded (TQQ) reaching 3.17 lakh from 10,000 shares within a few days. 

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Maruti Suzuki India is facing "a small delay" in finalising the site to set up a new plant with an annual capacity of 10 lakh units although the upcoming plant at Kharkhoda in Haryana is on track to start production by 2025-26, the company Chairman RC Bhargava said on Tuesday. Addressing shareholders at the company's annual general meeting, Bhargava also reiterated Maruti Suzuki's belief that low-cost and small cars are necessary in India's economic and social conditions and a temporary setback in demand is not going to change its strategy while hoping that small car demand will revive in the next two years.
 

AM Green Ammonia B.V., a venture floated by founders of Greenko Group, on Tuesday said it has reached final investment decision (FID) for its one million tonnes green ammonia project in Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh. Without giving investment details, the firm said FID essentially would lead to the start of project work. AM Green, incorporated by the founders of Hyderabad-based Greenko Group - Anil Chalamalasetty and Mahesh Kolli, is developing one of world's largest green ammonia platforms starting with 1 million tonne of production capacity at Kakinada in two phases and ramping capacity to 5 million tonnes per annum of green ammonia by 2030 - equivalent of 1 million ton per annum of hydrogen. The company, in addition to its founders, has Gentari and GIC as its shareholders.
 

Australian shares ended marginally lower on Tuesday as losses in bank and tech stocks outweighed gains in commodity-linked shares, while investors remained cautious ahead of the domestic inflation print.

The S&P/ASX 200 index closed down 0.2 per cent at 8,071.20 points.

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Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles (VECV) on Tuesday said it has signed an initial pact with Baidyanath LNG Private for the deployment of 500 LNG trucks, a move which would help in developing green trucking routes and scaling up the LNG Corridor in India. As part of this joint collaboration, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari flagged off Eicher Pro 6055 LNG trucks at the Baidyanath LNG Private Limited's newly-inaugurated facility in Nagpur, VE Commercial Vehicles said in a statement. The facility inaugurated by Gadkari on Monday, is the third LNG facility by LNG Baidyanath in the city.
 

JSW Energy on Tuesday said its arm JSW Neo Energy has received a letter of award (LoA) for setting up a wind-solar hybrid power project from Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (MSEDCL). The 200 MW wind-solar hybrid power project was awarded to JSW Neo Energy in a tariff-based competitive bid, a JSW Energy statement said. As a result of this capacity award, the company's total locked-in generation capacity has increased to 17.2 GW, which includes a total locked-in hybrid capacity of 2.9 GW (including FDRE), the statement said.
 

India has proven the 'fallacy' of incompatibility of rapid economic growth and a democratic political system, and the continuity of government and policies give industry the confidence of sustained high growth, Maruti Suzuki India Chairman R C Bhargava said on Tuesday. In his address to shareholders in the company's Annual General Meeting held virtually, he asserted that India's democratic processes will lead it to a sustained and more equitable society. Bhargava also said the industry and the government can work with trust and confidence with each other to achieve the goal of India becoming a developed country by 2047.
 

Shares of Anil Ambani-led companies including Reliance Power, Reliance Infrastructure, and Reliance Home Finance, continue to experience signifiant volatility today, following regulatory actions by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

Reliance Home Finance shares dipped 5.21 per cent today, hitting a lower circuit at Rs 4 per share, continuing the downward trend sparked by SEBI's recent order. Similarly, Reliance Power shares fell by 5.01 per cent, to Rs 31.11, also reaching their lower circuit limit. In contrast, Reliance Infrastructure shares showed some resilience, rising by 2.16 per cent to an intraday high of Rs 211.23.

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Tata Technologies shares: Shares of Tata Technologies fell as much as 3.39 per cent to hit an intraday low of Rs 1,013 on the BSE on the back of heavy trading volumes. On the National Stock Exchange, Tata Technologies shares declined as much as 2.58 per cent to hit an intraday low of Rs 1,021.55.

Trading volumes in Tata Technologies saw a huge spike as 1.37 crore Tata Technologies shares changed hands on the BSE compared to an average of 17.04 lakh shares traded daily in the past two weeks, data from BSE showed.

On the National Stock Exchange a total of 65 lakh shares worth Rs 672.89 crore exchanged hands.

Toyota Motor Corp and BMW will upgrade their partnership in fuel cell vehicles, Nikkei Asia reported on Tuesday.

The two automakers are set to sign a memorandum of understanding for the partnership next week, with an official announcement set for Sept. 5, Nikkei Asia reported.

A Toyota spokesperson said Nikkei's report is not based on the company's announcement, declining to comment further.

The Indian equity benchmarks were little changed on Tuesday as gains in HCL Technologies, ICICI Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Power Grid and Infosys were offset with losses in Bharti Airtel, Reliance Industries, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Mahindra & Mahindra amid weak cues from Asian peers. The Sensex moved in a band of 179 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday high of 25,037.70 and low of 24,988.

As of 9:23 am, the Sensex was up 28 points at 81,725 and Nifty 50 index declined 2 points to 25,008.

Solar cell and module maker, Premier Energies Ltd, has raised Rs 846 crore from anchor investors, a day ahead of the opening of its initial public offering for public subscription.

The money has been mobilised by issuing 1.88 crore equity shares to 60 anchor investors at Rs 450 per share, the circular said on the BSE website. Marquee investors include Nomura Funds, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, HDFC Mutual Fund, ICICI Prudential MF, Axis MF, Kotak MF, Nippon India MF, Sundaram MF, and UTI MF.

The Indian equity benchmarks are set to open lower as indicated by Nifty futures traded on Gift Nifty amid weak cues from global markets. The Nifty futures on Gift Nifty at Gandhinagar fell 18 points or 0.1 per cent to 25,019. Most of the Asian markets were trading lower following weak closing of US markets on Monday.

Japan's Nikkei fell 0.10 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng declined 0.54 per cent, China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.10 per cent and South Korea's KOSPI dropped 0.43 per cent.

Shop prices across the United Kingdom fell on an annual comparative basis for the first time in nearly three years, pushed lower by summer sales in clothing and houseware goods, according to a survey on Tuesday.

According to the BRC, shop prices in August 2024 were 0.3 per cent lower than at the same time last year, compared with a 0.2 per cent increase in July. This is the first decline in nearly three years.

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